Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - Superman: Dark Knight Over Metropolis

Well, it’s here. After some stops and a couple of interludes, I have gotten to the storyline. I actually had to skip a storyline to get here, but “Oh well.” Anyway, while DKOM is a three-parter (Action Comics 654, Adventures of Superman 467, and Superman 44) I’m gonna include a quick, quick synopsis of the previous issue Action Comics 653 as well. Since there is no tpb of this story, it has to fit into the "Bin" group.  So, let’s do it!!!

Dark Knight Over Metropolis

Writers: Jerry Ordway, Dan Jurgens, and Roger Stern

Pencillers: Jerry Ordway, Dan Jurgens, and Bob McLeod

Action Comics #654

This issue pretty much sets up everything that happens in the next three issues. Clark is having a ball ever since he got rid of that dang Eradicator, lost his job at Newstime (Eradicator’s fault though), and finally, FINALLY….had a date with Lois. It’s official. They’re a couple. Aw. Meanwhile, Jose Delgado (Gangbuster) was hired by Cat Grant’s ex to be a bodyguard because Cat is supposed to be a witness in a trial involving Morgan Edge’s ties to Intergang, a powerful gang located in Metropolis. We then see a little bit of Intergang as they plan to do something about the trial like killing Clark (Clark wrote the story) and Lois (…hey, it’s Lois) and possibly doing something to Cat.

Well, we all have said this: It's about frickin' time!

Clark then gets a call from a random person. He goes to meet this person in a cemetery, and this person turns out to be Amanda McCoy. Suddenly, she pulls out Luthor’s kryptonite ring exposes Clark as Superman. Clark, of course, is baffled and getting sick and passes out. Amanda, who is pretty….nuts, thinks she killed him and runs away. Later, Clark wakes up and wonders who the woman was and who else knows his secret. Elsewhere, Amanda gets robbed and loses the ring in the process. The issue ends as we hear (or see in this case) a scream.

Adventures of Superman #467 (Part 1)

We start out as Jose is guarding Cat and Adam as they have left a movie. Cat wants to take a quicker way to her car, but Jose resists because the way is an abandoned alley. Meanwhile, people are following them on the rooftops and on the ground. They end up going down the alley and get attacked by an invisible man. Jose get knocked out and the invisible guy almost escapes with Cat and Adam until Slam Bradley (the guy trailing them on the ground) shows up to help out. The shadowy figure on the rooftop wants to help, but wants to see what Jose will do. Jose is able to get Cat and Adam away from the invisible guy. After they leave, the shadowy figure comes out of the shadows and it’s …..Superman? Huh…guess he was feeling batty. Anyway, he finds the invisible guy and lightly threatens him.

Two things:

Notice anything similar about this situation?

Superman:Caped Crusader?

Superman then heads over to Emil Hamilton’s lab. He tells him about this rock that is similar to Kryptonite but not. Clark then remembers about what that woman (Amanda McCoy) did to him a while back and wonders what happened to her. We then unfortunately move to the morgue where Amanda’s body is. Yep, she Deeeaaadddd. They don’t know who she is  though. The inspector (Inspector Henderson) gets fed up with how Metropolis is getting a lot like Gotham City.

We then move to Gotham where a random hobo is getting mugged by the thuggish Freddie Mercury. Batman watches this happen and hangs with Brooklyn  from Gargoyles for a minute before he leaps down and gets ole Freddie. After he ties up Freddie, he checks up on the hobo who is dead for some unknown reason. Batman checks his belongings and finds the ring. He notices that it’s radioactive and surmises that this may have killed the hobo.

We then cut back to Metropolis where we see Lex Luthor as he goes to check up on his ring. He stopped wearing it since it made him lose his hand. When he gets down there, he notices it is gone. We then cut to Morgan Edge talking to his Lawyer about the trial and then Intergang hiring some more super powered thugs to deal with Cat.

Back in the Batcave, Batman analyzes the ring and the hobo’s stuff. Since the hobo came from Metropolis, he decides to go to Metropolis  to see if anyone else had this radiation and figure out this mystery. The focus then shifts to Superman, where he travels to the Fortress of Solitude and cleans things up because of a recent battle. He then heads back to his apartment in Metropolis and goes on a date with Lois. The issue ends as Batman shows up a Clark’s apartment.

Superman #44 (Part 2)

The issue starts out as Superman is flying around Metropolis and wondering why Batman is here. Apparently, Bats left a note at Clark’s apartment and it said that they needed to talk. At least he didn’t interrupt Clark’s date with Lois!  Meanwhile, Batman heads to the morgue and finds Amanda’s body, and examines it to see who she was. He leaves when a cop finds him.

Superman then runs into Gangbuster. He’s on patrol guarding Cat. Suddenly, Batman shows up and he and Superman leave. Jose thinks to himself something I myself want to know:

Let's see, Jose…don’t know, probably twice, and seven.

Jose is then tricked and knocked out by Shockwave and Chiller, the two thugs Intergang hired. And no, they’re not Transformers. Chiller can disguise himself as anyone, so he disguises himself as Jose. Meanwhile, Superman and Batman head to Bats’ car where Bats has the information about the dead woman and hobo. Superman recognizes Amanda’s face and tells Bruce about what happened a while back. In a funny moment, Batman accuses Superman of killing Amanda because she knew his identity. Superman gives him one of those “N**** please!” looks and slaps him….okay, that didn’t happen but it should have. Anyway, Superman tells him about the ring (which Batman has but leaves that to himself) and they head to LexCorp to get the bottom of it.

At LexCorp, Superman and Batman use their combined awesomeness that puts Solid Snake and Sam Fisher to shame as they sneak in and get the information they need on Amanda. They notice the missing ring like Luthor did last issue. After they get her information, they get out of there before they are caught. Meanwhile, Chiller, disguised as Jose, goes to Cat’s apartment to supposedly take her to the Zenith Awards.

At the Zenith Awards, Clark and Lois meet with Bruce. Bruce is so swayed by Lois, his bow tie changes colors. Suddenly, Lex, the host of this shindig, comes to meet the three. Clark is worried because he thinks that Lex finally knows his secret. Luckily, Lex is stupid and thanks Clark for something else he did. Clark is pleased. Suddenly, Intergang attacks the ceremony to kill Lois and Clark. Bruce hides Lois and Lex saves Clark. Clark is able to make a diversion happen as he and Bruce suit up and make quick work of the gang, and I mean quick:

Batman: I’m awesome!!

Superman: Yeah, yeah, whatever. I can blow up ships, brotha!

After they fight, they meet up with Lois and Lex. They wonder where Cat and Jose are. The issue ends as Cat realizes that she is not with Jose.

Action Comics #655

We start off with Superman and Batman as they head back to Cat’s apartment. They find that the building that Jose was staking out at is demolished. As Batman checks out the apartment, Superman looks for Jose. It turns out that Jose was able to escape from he building as Shockwave brought it down. It turns out that Shockwave is in the rubble and he attacks Superman and Jose.

Elsewhere, Chiller takes Cat to a warehouse where Intergang is stationed at. What they plan to do is this: instead of killing her, they will use a machine that’ll mess with her memories of that certain case. Suddenly, Batman, Superman, and Gangbuster bust in and we get our awesome fight scene for the issue. This time, these Intergangers are using weapons from Apokalips so Superman has a little challenge. It takes a minute, but Superman and Batman beat up the guards and Gangbuster saves Cat. As the cops show up, Batman does his ninja thing and leaves Superman a note telling him to meet him at Amanda’s apartment.

Superman heads to the apartment and finds it ransacked. It turns out that the muggers also robbed the apartment as well. Batman was able to find Amands’s diary and we get her story of her time of trying to figure out Superman’s identity. Afterwards, Batman reveals that he has the ring and he gives it to Superman. Batman then leaves. Sometime later in Gotham, Bruce is reading the Daily Planet when the alarm goes off. It turns out that Superman is in the Batcave and he has a little gift for him:

……………………………………………..

And that ends that. As far as Supes/Bats team-ups go, this one was pretty awesome. The story was well done, and set well in Superman’s universe. Both characters’ strengths are played well. Batman is always the detective and I like that. I also thought it was cool to get Gangbuster in on the action as well. The artwork was also well done too. Everything about this team-up was good. While we see that the two are different in a lot of ways, we do see that there is a sense of respect between the two. The scene at the end of the arc is pretty good and shows that the two getting closer as friends. Unfortunately, I don't think that there is a trade that has this story out there. I remember that the guys at FCTC were trying to get this story as well as others involving the ring in a trade. I definitely recommend these issues.

Well, it's that time. Since I have this small break from school, I gonna try to get done some things I have forgotten about.

NEXT TIME: SOMETHING....ULTIMATE!!!! (YES, I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THAT THING)